My grandson bought a singer sewing machine at a thrift store so he could make his own backpacking stuff. He brought it out for me to show him how to thread it and to see if it worked( I would have found that out before I bought it) . It worked but the feed dogs moved up and down but not forward and backwards. It is a metal machine. "Stylist 834" I think it would be worth getting fixed . Do any of you ladies know anything about this machine? what could make the feed dogs not work?

Go to the Vintage Machine shop here, or PM Lostn51 (Billy) our resident repair/expert guy. Can you post a picture? Is this a metal machine- 50's or 60's or newer? The great machines in Singer were the earlier ones. You almost cannot destroy them.

He posted a picture on his facebook and I could see that the knob that determined the stitch length was set on zero. I don't know why that didn't occur to me. I sent him a notice to check that and to put a bit of machine oil on the feed dogs so I will let you know if that works. I just knew if anyone could help it would be you gals. I thought it was about a 60's model. I'ts all metal. I told him it would be worth fixing. glad to know about Billy.